Staying Out Of Trouble With Ebay’s Listing Policies.
While you can sell most things on eBay, quite a few things are
banned. If you try to sell any of these things then eBay will
remove your auction and all bids will be void.
Here is eBay’s full list of prohibited or questionable items:
Academic Software Airline and Transit Related Items Alcohol
(also see Wine) Animals and Wildlife Products Anti-circumvention
Policy Artifacts Authenticity Disclaimers Autographed Items
Batteries Beta Software Bootleg Recordings Brand Name Misuse
Catalog Sales Catalytic Converters and Test Pipes Celebrity
Material Charity or Fundraising Listings Comparison Policy
Compilation and Informational Media Contracts and Tickets
Counterfeit Currency and Stamps Counterfeit Items Credit Cards
Downloadable Media Drugs & Drug Paraphernalia Electronics
Equipment Embargoed Goods and Prohibited Countries Encouraging
Infringement Policy Event Tickets Faces, Names and Signatures
Firearms, Ammunition, Replicas, and Militaria Fireworks Food
Freon and Other Refrigerants Gift Cards Government IDs and
Licenses Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Items Human Parts
and Remains Importation of Goods into the United States
International Trading – Buyers International Trading – Sellers
Lockpicking Devices Lottery Tickets Mailing Lists and Personal
Information Manufacturers’ Coupons Mature Audiences Medical
Devices Misleading Titles Mod Chips, Game Enhancers, and Boot
Discs Movie Prints Multi-level Marketing, Pyramid and Matrix
Programs OEM Software Offensive Material Pesticides Plants and
Seeds Police-Related Items Political Memorabilia Postage Meters
Pre-Sale Listings Prescription Drugs and Devices Promotional
Items Real Estate Recalled Items Recordable Media Replica and
Counterfeit Items Satellite and Cable TV Descramblers Slot
Machines Stocks and Other Securities Stolen Property
Surveillance Equipment Tobacco Travel Unauthorized Copies Used
Clothing Warranties Weapons & Knives Wine (also see Alcohol)
Most of this is very obvious – of course you can’t sell illegal
things like drugs, pyramid schemes or stolen goods. Almost
everything that is on the list is there because there is law
against selling it. Some of the reasons, though, are a little
strange.
The ‘autographed items’ entry, for example, doesn’t mean that
you can’t sell anything that’s been autographed – it just means
that you can only sell it if it comes with a certificate of
authenticity. The ‘artifacts’ entry prohibits you from selling
Native American graves; ‘celebrity material’ means you can’t
sell unauthorised pictures of celebrities; ‘embargoed goods’
means that you can’t sell anything that comes from Cuba… on
and on it goes, and most of it you never need to know.
If your chosen kind of item seems to be on the list, though, and
you’re concerned that you might not be able to sell it, then
check the full list at http://pag
es.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html to see whether the
item is banned entirely or there are just a few restrictions.
eBay says it will remove any items that it believes violate
copyright law, but in reality they don’t have that many people
to monitor the site. You will generally only find that your
auction gets removed if someone decides to report you – and even
then, they might not get around to it.
Really, buying and selling on eBay can sometimes feel more
complicated than it really is, thanks to all the rules
surrounding it – not to mention the jargon. Our next email is a
‘jargon buster’, to help you learn the language of eBay